Who will argue with the fact that it is impossible to overestimate the influence of Freud on the development of psychology as a science? This man has explored everything that is possible, but Freud made a truly fundamental contribution to the philosophy of personality psychoanalysis, in fact, this theory was developed by him. Subsequently, the technique was further developed by A. Adler, K. Young, and also by Neo-Freudians E. Fromm, G. Sullivan, K. Horney and J. Lacan. To date, the methods of psychoanalysis are widely used in psychology to solve problems of self-determination and personality correction.
The concept of psychoanalysis
For a hundred years of the existence of psychoanalysis, there has been more than one school and direction. The main schools are usually:
- the classical theory of Freud;
- ego-psychology;
- septic psychology of Lacan;
- structural psychoanalysis of Kohut;
- intersubjective approach;
- intersubjective psychoanalysis;
In addition, psychoanalysis itself is divided into three main areas:
- The theory of psychoanalysis of personality is the first and one of the most significant ideas of human development in psychology. It is usually considered within the framework of classical psychoanalysis according to Freud, but can be used for any of its derivatives. For example, in analytical psychology by Jung or individual psychology by Adler.
- Psychoanalysis is also seen as a method for investigating the hidden motives of human activity, which are manifested through free associations expressed by the patient. It is this aspect that is the basis of the philosophy of Freud's psychoanalysis.
- And of course, modern psychoanalysis is seen as a method of treating various mental disorders that arise due to conflicts between desires and reality.
The concepts of defense mechanisms (substitution, sublimation, negation, etc.), complexes (Oedipus, Electra, inferiority, castration), stages of psychosexual development (oral, anal, phallic, latent, genital) were introduced for the purposes of psychoanalysis. Freud also developed a topographic and structural model of the psyche. The topographic model presupposes the presence of consciousness and unconscious departments, and the structural model suggests the presence of three components - the id (the unconscious), the ego (consciousness), and the superego (society within the person).
The unconscious in psychoanalysis
Freud in both of the proposed models of the psyche gave a big role to the unconscious (Id), which is the energy basis of the individual. This component contains innate instincts that encourage a person to strive for satisfaction of natural needs and gaining pleasure. Freud believed that the unconscious is the most ambitious part of the human psyche. It is he who pushes people to get what they want at any cost, forcing them to do ill-considered and illegal acts. If there were no other departments of the psyche, then there would be no norms and rules in society, they simply could not act.
Fortunately, the unconscious is counterbalanced by the conscious components of the Ego and Superego, which allow postponing the execution of instincts to the appropriate event (Ego) or even placing the performance under a ban, since it does not conform to norms or ideals (Superego). Freud believed that the unconscious (Id) and the higher degree of consciousness (Superego) are at variance, hence
Despite the widespread use of psychoanalysis for practical purposes, he also has many critics. Many people are irritated by Freud's statement about the general neuroses, others do not accept the idea of the unconscious, controlling the personality, while others take a hostile view of the psychosexual theory of human development. Briefly, all claims to Freud's psychoanalysis can be stated as follows: he justifies any human action, referring to instinct, taking away from the individual the desire to work on himself in order to avoid negative aspirations.